First Aid Kit and Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra honour Dolly Parton with cover of ‘I Will Always Love You’

First Aid Kit honoured late country icon Dolly Parton with a cover of her classic hit ‘I Will Always Love You’ last night (September 29).

The show was one of two UK only concerts at the Royal Albert Hall, which saw the Swedish duo perform their 2014 album ‘Stay Gold’ in full with the 65-piece Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

The last time they performed at the venue was just months after the record was released, 12 years ago.

During the show, the duo discussed how up until ‘Stay Gold’ they were strict on keeping their records acoustic but the songs needed strings on this album. “So we just said, ‘Fuck it, let’s play what we want,’” joked singer Klara Söderberg, ahead of ‘Waitress Song’.

First Aid Kit performing ‘My Silver Lining’ @RoyalAlbertHall tonight pic.twitter.com/B0fdixjmii

— Damian Jones (@damianjones1) September 29, 2026

They wrapped up the first part of their show sat at the front of the stage for album closer ‘A Long Time Ago’ which was driven by a piano before the orchestra kicked in.

After a quick interval, the sisters returned to break out a run of fan favourites, both old and new.

During that set, they performed their cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s ‘America’ and spoke about how they once had to play the track in front of Paul Simon in 2012 at the Polar Music Prize, which is often called the “Nobel Prize of Music”.

“I was picturing him walking off. I’d had five Red Bulls and my legs were shaking so much,” said Klara.

Despite him having a “bitchy rest face” Johanna Söderberg added: “And then he gave us a standing ovation.”

Later during a rendition of ‘Emmylou’, the crowd lit up the venue with their mobile phones.

They finally wrapped their show with the 1974 Parton classic. “We wanna dedicate this to one of our biggest heroes,” Klara said.

First Aid Kit performing Dolly Parton’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra @RoyalAlbertHall last night pic.twitter.com/rK506TvTnH

— Damian Jones (@damianjones1) September 30, 2026

Parton died last month aged 80.

First Aid Kit and the Gotheburg Symphony Orchestra played:

Set 1: ‘Stay Gold’

‘My Silver Lining’
‘Master Pretender’
‘Stay Gold’
‘Cedar Lane’
‘Shattered & Hollow’
‘The Bell’
‘Waitress Song’
‘Fleeting One’
‘Heaven Knows’
‘A Long Time Ago’

Set 2

‘Fireworks’
‘Angel’
‘America’
‘A Feeling That Never Came’
‘Dance to Another Tune’
‘The Lion’s Roar’
‘Wild Horses II’
‘Nothing Has to Be True’
‘Emmylou’
‘I Will Always Love You’

Their performance comes after Taylor Swift dedicated her Video Of The Year victory at the VMAs to Parton, describing the country legend as the “ultimate showgirl”.

U2 also recently shared that a song on their new album called ‘Torn’ features Parton’s last recorded vocal performance.

NME was recently treated to a playback of the song in between U2’s Dublin shows last week.

The tender ballad documents two sons squabbling over their differences as she gently sings: “I love you both but I feel so torn” on the opening verse before she trades vocals with Bono on the chorus.